Busy Sunday

Baba has been with our family for over 25 years... He was my grandfather's batman and then moved in as chowkidar/comptroller. Last year, Baba retired from service, went for Umra and then joined the Tableegh with frequent trips to Rywand.

Baba sent his son Ajmer in his place and today, we went to visit him at his home since he'd just become a father for the first time. Baba, Ajmer and his four brothers all live together in a house in Landhi with their wives and children. They'd done a lot of ehtemam in honor of our visit and everything was clean and shiny. They entertained us in the best room (beautifully decorated with flowers and wall hangings) and introduced us to all the children (around 27 in all). I was surprised at how liberal they were (I'd expected segregation and covered heads) but all the women were dressed in their colorful outfits and wore lots of makeup and jewelry :). Ajmer's baby girl Ayman is gorgeous Mashalah with beautiful big black eyes and he dotes on her :)

Baba's wife spoke mainly Pushto but my mom understood most of it and translated for me. They served us a lavish lunch and kept refilling our plates. Finally, Ajmer's wife served us green tea with sliced lemons and sugar...

I came away highly impressed by their consideration and saleekha and feeling slightly ashamed of my not-s0-dhang-walay ways. I can't think of an English word for "dhang" or "saleekha". Any suggestions are welcome!